7.5 month old starting early intervention for multiple concerns

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP,

Is she showing any of the signs under the "Act Early" header?
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/milestones-6mo.html

If so, then I'd be concerned and I would talk to my pediatrician.

If she's not getting enough tummy time, that's an easy fix. You give her more tummy time. (P.S. There's no such thing as "consonant regression." Yes, I recognize your post from Gen'l Parenting.)

Haha, I made that term up and definitely not trying to hide that I am that poster

The only one of the "talk to your child's doctor if" ones is the rolling. But the EI had a lot of other stuff she said she should be able to do, including holding the bottle (but she also said that breastfed babies often missed this).

If she's not getting enough tummy time, then she's going to have difficulty learning to roll over. If she's making eye contact and making noise (even if consonant free), I wouldn't worry about contacting an autism center. So work on tummy time. Take her to the pool (either class or free swim) and have her grab for floating plastic toys. If she's having trouble feeding, I'd get some Baby MumMum crackers.

I don't think they can really screen with any sort of reliability until 9 months in any case:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/milestones-9mo.html

Just remember there is a range of normal--for rolling, pincer grasp etc.

Take a deep breath and keep up updated. Personally, my gut says you're letting your worries getting the best of you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP,

Is she showing any of the signs under the "Act Early" header?
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/milestones-6mo.html

If so, then I'd be concerned and I would talk to my pediatrician.

If she's not getting enough tummy time, that's an easy fix. You give her more tummy time. (P.S. There's no such thing as "consonant regression." Yes, I recognize your post from Gen'l Parenting.)

Haha, I made that term up and definitely not trying to hide that I am that poster

The only one of the "talk to your child's doctor if" ones is the rolling. But the EI had a lot of other stuff she said she should be able to do, including holding the bottle (but she also said that breastfed babies often missed this).

If she's not getting enough tummy time, then she's going to have difficulty learning to roll over. If she's making eye contact and making noise (even if consonant free), I wouldn't worry about contacting an autism center. So work on tummy time. Take her to the pool (either class or free swim) and have her grab for floating plastic toys. If she's having trouble feeding, I'd get some Baby MumMum crackers.

I don't think they can really screen with any sort of reliability until 9 months in any case:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/milestones-9mo.html

Just remember there is a range of normal--for rolling, pincer grasp etc.

Take a deep breath and keep up updated. Personally, my gut says you're letting your worries getting the best of you.

Thanks. I hope you're right.

[Anonymous]

Why would you link this with autism?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would you link this with autism?

Well I myself didn't make that link, the evaluator said I should call an autism center (but that center also does general development stuff). But the "speech regression" thing was a red flag. There is some question as to whether it is actually a regression though. It's been three weeks since she uttered a consonant, and before that it was only two - so I'm wondering if she just like, learned the skill and put it on a shelf for later or something. At least that's what I'm hoping.

[Anonymous]

You mean before she babbled with consonants and now she is babbling with other sounds? And you think this is regression?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do 7 month old babies "problem solve"? You should get a second opinion.

That's holding own bottle and stuff... you put a piece of food in her hand and she won't eat it she'll just fling it around etc. etc. sigh..

I really don't think that is a sign of a delay in a 7 month old baby.

[Anonymous]

you REALLY need a second opinion. What was the concern that lead you to call early intervention in the first place?

My baby did not roll over until 10 months, walked at 15.5 months, and didn't say his first real word until around 14.5 months. He's fine!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You mean before she babbled with consonants and now she is babbling with other sounds? And you think this is regression?

Yes, why would this be regression and not progression? Are consonants somehow higher and more evolved than other letters?

[Anonymous]

OP can you tell us the actual problems your child is having? In real terms?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You mean before she babbled with consonants and now she is babbling with other sounds? And you think this is regression?

Yes, why would this be regression and not progression? Are consonants somehow higher and more evolved than other letters?

I am told that yes, if she was saying "aaa" before, then saying "bababa," then goes back to "aaaaa," that is regression - though I myself think it is somewhat early to call it regression.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP can you tell us the actual problems your child is having? In real terms?

OK -

(1) She doesn't roll in either direction. She has done so maybe 5 times in her life but they've all seemed kind of accidental.
(2) She isn't mobile - no crawling or scooting or anything really even close.
(3) When I called EI, she wasn't sitting but she is now.

and two other things, neither of which I would have called EI about on their own

(4) She has been late on a number of other things, laughing, tracking with eyes, etc., - but does them regularly now.
(5) She started using consonants, then dropped them 2 months later.

The main reason I even called was because I was worried they missed hip dysplasia. She was breech and had an ambiguous ultrasound at 6 weeks, but then they cleared her at a second ultrasound at 13 weeks. The gross motor delays were consistent with hip dysplasia so I wanted to rule that out since we had that risk factor. But the evaluator was less concerned about the motor delay on its own - just figured it was not enough tummy time. But evaluator was really concerned about (5), and then when I mentioned (4) she seemed concerned about that too.
Here are the additional issues the evaluator identified as red flags

(1) She doesn't ever calm herself down. She physically can put her pacifier in her mouth but it NEVER occurs to her to do this when she's upset. Also never occurs to her to suck her fingers when upset.
(2) She doesn't hold her own bottle or a sippy cup. The evaluator seemed SUPER concerned about this, and I was flabbergasted by it frankly because I have never before heard that this is required at this age.

The evaluator described this as not "problem solving" but also said that this was probably a bit early on that milestone AND (and this is where I got a little skeptical) breastfed babies often are developmentally delayed at this kind of stuff because they don't need to learn how to hold a bottle early because they're only on the boob at first? The implication was also that we were doing too much "anticipating of her needs," e.g. spoiling her.

I understand that this initial evaluation was basically a gatekeeping one - and the legit one is probably the next one or another one.

[Anonymous]

I would not worry about holding a bottle and some of that stuff but early intervention is only a positive thing. My son never held a bottle. He could do it but he refused. One day I put the bottle in the middle of the room and hid around the corner. Sure enough he drank it. But, when he saw me, he put it down and demanded to be held...We always cuddled so that was his time to cuddle. Try different sippies. I never did tummy time. Cruised at 8 months, walked at 11. We do have other delays though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP can you tell us the actual problems your child is having? In real terms?

OK -

(1) She doesn't roll in either direction. She has done so maybe 5 times in her life but they've all seemed kind of accidental.
(2) She isn't mobile - no crawling or scooting or anything really even close.
(3) When I called EI, she wasn't sitting but she is now.

and two other things, neither of which I would have called EI about on their own

(4) She has been late on a number of other things, laughing, tracking with eyes, etc., - but does them regularly now.
(5) She started using consonants, then dropped them 2 months later.

The main reason I even called was because I was worried they missed hip dysplasia. She was breech and had an ambiguous ultrasound at 6 weeks, but then they cleared her at a second ultrasound at 13 weeks. The gross motor delays were consistent with hip dysplasia so I wanted to rule that out since we had that risk factor. But the evaluator was less concerned about the motor delay on its own - just figured it was not enough tummy time. But evaluator was really concerned about (5), and then when I mentioned (4) she seemed concerned about that too.
Here are the additional issues the evaluator identified as red flags

(1) She doesn't ever calm herself down. She physically can put her pacifier in her mouth but it NEVER occurs to her to do this when she's upset. Also never occurs to her to suck her fingers when upset.
(2) She doesn't hold her own bottle or a sippy cup. The evaluator seemed SUPER concerned about this, and I was flabbergasted by it frankly because I have never before heard that this is required at this age.

The evaluator described this as not "problem solving" but also said that this was probably a bit early on that milestone AND (and this is where I got a little skeptical) breastfed babies often are developmentally delayed at this kind of stuff because they don't need to learn how to hold a bottle early because they're only on the boob at first? The implication was also that we were doing too much "anticipating of her needs," e.g. spoiling her.

I understand that this initial evaluation was basically a gatekeeping one - and the legit one is probably the next one or another one.

Not rolling or crawling at 7.5 months is within the realm of normal, but given the medical history, makes sense to get a QUALIFIED opinion about that from an actual doctor. What did your pediatrician say?

The other things sound just weird and incredibly subjective. I'm thinking maybe this evaluator doesn't actually see many infants and is not qualified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do 7 month old babies "problem solve"? You should get a second opinion.

That's holding own bottle and stuff... you put a piece of food in her hand and she won't eat it she'll just fling it around etc. etc. sigh..

Hardly problem solving.

Of course it's problem solving, for a 7 month old. What do you expect?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP can you tell us the actual problems your child is having? In real terms?

OK -

(1) She doesn't roll in either direction. She has done so maybe 5 times in her life but they've all seemed kind of accidental.
(2) She isn't mobile - no crawling or scooting or anything really even close.
(3) When I called EI, she wasn't sitting but she is now.

and two other things, neither of which I would have called EI about on their own

(4) She has been late on a number of other things, laughing, tracking with eyes, etc., - but does them regularly now.
(5) She started using consonants, then dropped them 2 months later.

The main reason I even called was because I was worried they missed hip dysplasia. She was breech and had an ambiguous ultrasound at 6 weeks, but then they cleared her at a second ultrasound at 13 weeks. The gross motor delays were consistent with hip dysplasia so I wanted to rule that out since we had that risk factor. But the evaluator was less concerned about the motor delay on its own - just figured it was not enough tummy time. But evaluator was really concerned about (5), and then when I mentioned (4) she seemed concerned about that too.
Here are the additional issues the evaluator identified as red flags

(1) She doesn't ever calm herself down. She physically can put her pacifier in her mouth but it NEVER occurs to her to do this when she's upset. Also never occurs to her to suck her fingers when upset.
(2) She doesn't hold her own bottle or a sippy cup. The evaluator seemed SUPER concerned about this, and I was flabbergasted by it frankly because I have never before heard that this is required at this age.

The evaluator described this as not "problem solving" but also said that this was probably a bit early on that milestone AND (and this is where I got a little skeptical) breastfed babies often are developmentally delayed at this kind of stuff because they don't need to learn how to hold a bottle early because they're only on the boob at first? The implication was also that we were doing too much "anticipating of her needs," e.g. spoiling her.

I understand that this initial evaluation was basically a gatekeeping one - and the legit one is probably the next one or another one.

Not rolling or crawling at 7.5 months is within the realm of normal, but given the medical history, makes sense to get a QUALIFIED opinion about that from an actual doctor. What did your pediatrician say?

The other things sound just weird and incredibly subjective. I'm thinking maybe this evaluator doesn't actually see many infants and is not qualified.

She sounded like she saw a lot of babies, but I think her role is one of checking boxes mostly. When she called DD's name and she responded, she made a comment like "oh, you know your name! The other day I saw a 6 month old baby who didn't know her name and it hurt my heart!" Which struck me, because I thought 6 months was pretty early to consistently respond to name, and I was honestly pretty impressed that DD consistently did it for a stranger.